


it hurts (but i won't fight you)

by stardustgirl



Series: you breathe like your lungs aren't full of matches [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Beating, Blood and Injury, Fights, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Implied Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Loss of Bending Ability, POV Sokka (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Toph Beifong, Rescue, Zuko (Avatar) Needs Therapy, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) whump, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, as in like. blink and you miss it? it's BARELY there lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25845793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustgirl/pseuds/stardustgirl
Summary: A few weeks after Zuko is officially banished from the Gaang's camp, Sokka and Toph find their local jerkbender at a village.  Only, there's a problem: he won't firebend.
Relationships: Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Sokka, Toph Beifong & Sokka & Zuko, Toph Beifong & Zuko
Series: you breathe like your lungs aren't full of matches [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842490
Comments: 12
Kudos: 384





	it hurts (but i won't fight you)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for "Bloodstained Clothes" for Bad Things Happen Bingo.
> 
> Also, read the tags! There's blood in this among ~ General Zuko Angst ~ aha.

The next time _Jerkbender_ shows his face, it seems to be completely by accident.

Sokka and Toph are searching for leads on a firebending teacher—one who’s preferably _not_ Zuko—in a nearby town. Sokka’s complaining about how _red_ everything is, to which Toph replies, “Yeah, I can _really_ see where you’re coming from, Snoozles.” He makes a noise of irritation at that before catching sight of one of the street scams they used to be so good at scamming before Combustion Man got involved.

“Hey, Toph, want to get some practice in?”

“Do I—wait.” She stops suddenly, grabbing into his arm.

“What is it?”

“Do you see—no, no, never mind, I must have been imagining things. It’s not...never mind. What were you saying about those scams?”

They head over, and periodically Toph hesitates, gripping onto his arm for half a moment in that weird way she has for when she’s nervous or disoriented before letting go and continuing on. It all makes Sokka a bit uneasy, but he tries his best to shrug it off.

And then, they reach the site of the scams. “Scamming Street,” as Sokka’s dubbed all the past places like this, consists of only a couple of scam runners this time. He and Toph silently agree to head over to the one at the far end, one of the shell ones with the little rock. Toph fishes in her bag for a coin, preparing to hand it over to the gamerunner when she does that weird hesitation thing again.

“Hey, d’you remember how Zuko burned my feet and then we haven’t really seen him since?”

Sokka’s silent for a long, long moment before it hits him.

“Where is he?” he asks just as quietly.

Toph jerks her head to the side, and Sokka turns slightly, but he still can’t see any sign of the firebender who’s chased them practically across the world at this point. “He’s around the corner, farther down. There’s some people with him, but I don’t recognize who. Do you think we should go confront him ourselves?”

He mulls it over for a moment. “Well, if we go back to get Aang and Katara, he could be long gone by then. But he could also hurt you again. Maybe...maybe we just do some recon?”

“Sounds like a plan.” She starts off toward Zuko, and Sokka follows, hand right on the hilt of his space sword just in case things _do_ end up getting dicey.

They round a corner, and the cries Sokka hears make him hesitate.

“Please, I told you, I don’t have anything—“

“Well these are some _mighty fine_ swords for someone who ‘doesn’t have anything,’” an unfamiliar voice says, eliciting chuckles from several others. Sokka can’t see Zuko, not yet, but he recognizes the yell of frustration as his.

“But I already _gave you_ everything I had! I don’t have anything else! Please, I promi—“

“Nah, I see something else you could give us. Hand over the swords, and we’ll leave you be.”

“Please, they’re my only—“

There’s a _crack,_ followed in quick succession by a sharp yelp, and Sokka’s grip on the hilt of his sword tightens.

“Toph, can you tell what’s going on over there?”

“Yeah, Sparky’s getting his head cracked in. Why isn’t he firebending?”

Sokka grimaces. “Maybe he’s scared to? Or they chi blocked him like his sister’s friend does?”

Another yelp, another cut off plea, and Sokka’s had it. He starts forward.

“I’m gonna see what’s up. Come with me or not, I don’t care, but don’t stop me.”

“Why would I _stop you_ from jumping into a fight?” Toph asks eagerly, and a quick glance back reveals her following with the same stony expression he’s sure is practically etched into his face by now. “Fights are kind of my _thing._ ”

Sokka surges forward, pulling his sword halfway from its sheath. “Hey, hey, stop, what’re you doing?!”

“What does it _look_ like, boy? Just giving the traitor the _treatment—_ “ at that, there’s the sound of a fist connecting with a chest, and a pained grunt that makes Sokka wince, “—he deserves.”

“Before we hand him over to the Fire Lord, at least."

Someone else in the crowd laughs, and there’s the sound of another blow. Setting his jaw, Sokka takes a step forward.

“Hold up, kid, you want a piece of him, you gotta ask and wait in line like the rest of us.” A hand on his chest stops him, and the group splits enough to where Sokka can make out the familiar scar on the face of Jerkbender.

Zuko’s bleeding, though, and profusely. Blood pours from a long gash on his forehead, and more from another cut along his right jaw. Bruises are scattered along his throat and the sides of his face, too, and Sokka can’t help a slight wince.

“Uh, sure, yeah. I– I wanna beat him up. Sure.”

Zuko raises his head at that, a black eye rendering his good eye just as useless as his left one. “Boom– Boomerang Guy?”

“No, I’m a good, loyal Fire Nation citizen. What good, loyal Fire Nation citizen would use a boomerang?”

Zuko squints, but blood drips into his eyes, and he’s forced to try and blink it away fruitlessly.

“Alright, kid, come up here then.” The crowd splits, allowing Sokka a way forward, and he shoots a glance over his shoulder at Toph. Upon reaching Zuko, he leans in close to his ear, grabbing his hair under the guise of threatening him.

“Can you run?”

“Think...I think so,” Zuko replies, groaning.

“Good. When I give the signal, follow me out of here.”

Zuko nods, weakly, and Sokka takes a step back. “Now, Toph!”

He hears the cries of the group surrounding them as they’re tossed into the air and against the alley walls by stone pillars, then grabs Zuko’s hand and _runs._

Zuko nearly collapses a couple of steps out, but quickly regains his balance in time to follow Sokka. Toph follows behind; the occasional crash and yelp the most reliable sign of her presence.

Finally, they make it to the outskirts of the town. Sokka tugs Zuko to a halt, and then glances back at Toph. “Is there anyone behind us?”

“No,” she says, cocking her head. “But why’s Sparky's heartbeat and breathing weird?”

“‘Sparky?’”

“Yeah, firebender over here.” She jerks her head toward Zuko. “He doesn’t seem the same as usual.”

“Well, yeah, he _did_ just get beat up, so—“

A sword is suddenly at Sokka’s throat and he lets out a strangled yelp, backing up quickly against a tree. He raises his hands, eyes wide as more blood drips into Zuko’s eyes.

“Just let me go, okay? I’ll– I’ll stay away from you guys, I promise, just– just please….Just please let me go. Okay?”

His voice is raspier than normal, Sokka realizes. “Why haven’t you just burned us and been done with it?”

Zuko lets out a sigh of frustration, and a drop of blood falls from his chin to his shirt, spreading through the fabric like some sort of grotesque flower. “Doesn’t matter. But I can’t teach your Avatar, and I don’t want to; you guys have– you guys have made that plenty clear. So please don’t kill– don’t kill me, even if I deserve it; I _know_ I deserve it but just...just let me go.”

“Wait, so you wanted to teach Aang, and now you don’t?” Sokka frowns. “What changed your mind?”

“It– it’s nothing. Nothing.” Zuko’s gaze flickers to Toph, standing like a warning only a few feet behind him, and then back to Sokka. “I’ll just be on my way, okay? Then you...then you two can get back to everyone else. Okay?”

Sokka glances at Toph as best as he can over Zuko’s shoulder. Her expression is completely neutral, revealing nothing, and he sighs in frustration. “Question first, Jerkbender.” He can't pretend not to notice the quirk of Zuko’s brow at that, but he _can_ pretend to ignore it. “Why didn’t you just firebend your way out of there?”

Zuko’s lips press together into a thin line, tension revealing itself in his blood-covered jaw. “They could’ve been firebenders.”

“They weren’t,” Toph announces. “Benders’ heart rates are different.” She takes a step closer. “And _Sparky_ over here? His heart rate isn’t a bender’s.”

“Yes, it _is,_ ” Zuko grounds out. “I’m—“

“Then firebend for us.”

Sokka’s eyes practically _bulge_ at the ultimatum. “Toph, you’re not supposed to be _encouraging_ him to firebend! That’s how people—that’s how _we—_ die!”

“Oh, relax. He _can’t_ firebend.”

“Yes, I _can,_ ” Zuko rasps, eyes flashing. “I _can_ and I _will!_ ”

“He’s lying,” Toph sings, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. “If he could firebend, he wouldn’t have gotten himself stuck in that situation in the first place.”

Sokka nods, careful not to touch the blade of Zuko’s sword. “That’s…a really good point.”

“I can _too_ firebend!”

“Then do it!” Sokka says, mind made up. He’ll believe Toph over anything Jerkbender says, even if he’s related to his crazy sister who can lie without anyone telling. “Do it!”

Zuko’s gaze flicks wildly between the two younger teens. “I– I’ll do it! I swear on Agni I’ll do it! This is your last chance!”

Sokka raises an eyebrow.

And Zuko doesn’t firebend.

“I can’t...I can’t do it,” he whispers. “Not anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because I just _can’t,_ okay?! I made a deal, and I’m not—I _won’t_ continue spreading the fear and hatred my father already does, okay? Just let me go.”

Stunned into inaction, Sokka lets Zuko shoulder him roughly against the tree once more, watching as the older firebender— _non_ bender, now, if his claim is to be believed—sheathes both his swords and walks away.

“What do we do about him?” Toph asks, long after the ashmaker’s— _former_ ashmaker’s—tracks are blown into the wind. “We’re just gonna let him go?”

“I...yeah. Yeah, yeah. Come on. We should...we should go tell Aang.”

Sokka begins to walk away from the tree, Toph falling into step behind him, and he wonders.


End file.
